Cities saddle up for bike scheme

As part of a scheme sponsored by Coca-Cola, 700 bicycles are to be made available to the public in Cork, Limerick, and Galway in an effort to cut down on congestion and promote a healthier lifestyle.

The new bike share scheme announced by Alan Kelly, the public transport minister, will allow cyclists to use bikes for either free or at a low cost and take or leave them at various docking stations throughout the cities. It’s expected the scheme will be operational in the three cities by Jul 2014.

Of the 700 bikes that will be available for hire, 315 are in Cork, 200 are in Limerick, and 185 will be in Galway.

Mr Kelly said the three cities will be joining likes of Paris, London, Barcelona, and Dublin which have similar schemes. “Over the three cities 700 bikes will be available for hire with 73 docking stations at various trip-attracting points throughout the cities,” he said.

There will be 31 docking stations in Cork, 23 stations in Limerick, and 19 stations in Galway. We would estimate that an additional 700,000 cycling trips will be taken per annum because of this scheme.

The news follows a commitment in the Programme for Government to examine the feasibility of such projects similar to the Dublin bike schemes in other cities. A competitive tender to seek a partner for the scheme was initiated by the National Transport Authority (NTA) in Nov 2012.

Four companies entered the bidding process with Coca-Cola Ireland being the successful partner.

“The only way this scheme could work was if there was a private sector partner to support it. Therefore I am delighted to announce that Coca-Cola Ireland will be the partner for the scheme,” said Mr Kelly.

Gerry Murphy, chief executive of the NTA, said he believed the new schemes will prove as successful as the one in Dublin.”